Mustangs’ fourth-quarter run secures berth in regional semis
A couple of points separated Cypress Ranch and Tomball Memorial heading into the final quarter of their Region II-6A girls basketball quarterfinal Tuesday night at Cypress Creek High School.
Cypress Ranch coach Megan Daniel told her squad to pick up the defense if they didn’t want to go home.
The Mustangs went on a 10-0 run to start the fourth quarter while Chelsy Singleton scored nine of her 16 points to help Cypress Ranch pull away and beat Tomball Memorial 56-44 to advance to the Region II-6A semifinals for the first time since the 2016-17 season.
Cypress Ranch (29-5) will face Cedar Hill in the Region II-6A tournament at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Panther Activity Center in Lufkin.
“They’re a great team, well-coached, disciplined, they execute very well, they were in the regional finals last year, so we knew it was going to be a tough game,” Daniel said of Tomball Memorial. “Overall, we stuck to our game plan. We’re very senior-prone, we got a lot of girls who are not ready to go home.
“They made up their mind before we started the game that we’re going to the regional tournament, and that’s what they’re doing. So, I’m really proud of them.”
Back-to-back 3-pointers and a Jaeda Larry layup made it a 10-point game to start the fourth quarter before Singleton’s basket extended Cypress Ranch’s lead to 48-36. Katelyn Kabrich responded by scoring 8 points for the Wildcats. The Mustangs still won the quarter 18-8, the largest margin of the game.
“They just did a really good job picking up our defense. … Only had eight minutes to take care of it,” Daniel said. “They worked together, they trusted each other and that was really important in late part of the game.”
Cypress Ranch reached the regional tournament for the third time in program history and first time since 2016-17, when the Mustangs ultimately lost to Duncanville 76-65 in the 6A title game. This year’s squad took down Tomball 66-40 in the bidistrict round and beat Grand Oaks 69-60 in the area round.
Tomball Memorial advanced to the regional quarterfinals for the third consecutive season and was attempting to reach the regional semis for the second year in a row under coach Tarence Davis. The Wildcats beat Cypress Lakes 48-45 in the first round and bested Westfield 62-44 in the second round. Last year’s squad fell to DeSoto 66-24 in the fourth round.
Larry finished with a team-high 20 points, including a trio of 3-pointers, and Ny’Kyiah RhodesJeffery had 11 points. The Mustangs finished with nine 3-pointers. Kabrich scored a game-high 24 points for Tomball Memorial, Brooke Moses had 9 points and Dasia Hyams added 7 points.
Just making it to the Region II-6A tournament is extremely tough, Daniel said.
“I think just even being in the regional tournament is already a blessing,” Daniel said. “We just want to continue to work hard.”